Solyman rendezvoused an immense army at Belgrade, and
commenced his march up the Danube.
"Old as I am," said he to his troops, "I am determined to chastise the
house of Austria, or to perish in the attempt beneath the walls of
Vienna."
It was beautiful spring weather, and the swelling buds and hourly
increasing verdure, decorated the fields with loveliness. For several
days the Turks marched along the right bank of the Danube, through green
fields, and beneath a sunny sky, encountering no foe. War seemed but as
the pastime of a festive day, as gay banners floated in the breeze,
groups of horsemen, gorgeously caparisoned, pranced along, and the
turbaned multitude, in brilliant uniform, with jokes, and laughter and
songs, leisurely ascended the majestic stream. A fleet of boats filled
the whole body of the river, impelled by sails when the wind favored,
or, when the winds were adverse, driven by the strong arms of the rowers
against the gentle tide. Each night the white tents were spread, and a
city for a hundred thousand inhabitants rose as by magic, with its
grassy streets, its squares, its busy population, its music, its
splendor, blazing in all the regalia of war.
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